Sunday, December 26, 2021

the twelve days of Christmas! Dec26 Guest blogger CBBC news

The Twelve Days of Christmas :
Day 0 Christmas Day
Day 1 Boxing Day

Why is it called Boxing Day? - CBBC Newsround


Boxing DayGetty Images

Boxing Day got its name when Queen Victoria was on the throne in the 1800s and has nothing to do with the sport of boxing.

The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor.

Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants, and the day when they received a special Christmas box from their masters.

The servants would also go home on Boxing Day to give Christmas boxes to their families.

Mural of St Stephen inside the Benedictine Convent of St John, SwitzerlandGetty Images

Mural of St Stephen inside the Benedictine Convent of St John, Switzerland

The day also has religious connections and is celebrated as Saint Stephen's Day in Ireland and the Catalonia region of Spain.

In some European countries - such as Hungary, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands - Boxing Day is celebrated as a second Christmas Day.

Collection money

Churches also played a part in the creation of Boxing Day. Through the year they would take money from churchgoers in the form of a collection and hand it out at Christmas.

Many of them stored the collection money in a box, which they opened on Christmas Day. The money was then handed out to the poor the next day - on Boxing Day.

Today, those boxes aren't as popular. However some people leave out extra money for people like paper boys and girls in the weeks before Christmas, and call it a Christmas box.

December 26Getty Images

And the Season continues, with several guest bloggers and way too much rambling from me.

Guest blogger Navied Mahdavian on How to fight with the people we care about, illustrated

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